This Crazy Life We Lead
by RoseAlone
Summary: Merlin sends Lancelot over a thousand years into the future. Lancelot changes his name and becomes a Musketeer under the guidance of his new friend Athos, but when Lancelot falls back into old habits Athos finds himself wishing Merlin was around to knock some since into him.
1. Death and Slavery

A/n: Most of this chapter takes place in the Merlin episode Lancelot Du Lac 4x09. The other part of it is The Musketeers pre-series. The fic will grow to include spoilers for the season final of The Musketeers and an AU post Show Merlin. In this fic the events of Merlin take place at around 500 A.D. and The Musketeers timeline is cannon with the boys meeting D'artagnan in 1630 A.D.

* * *

Lancelot gasped as his soul was torn from the comfort of the spirit world. The pain was fantastically sharp as he was pulled back into his body. His skin burned, his muscles were weak, and he almost couldn't remember how to breathe. He was confident he would have managed to remember by himself, but he never got the chance.

Almost as soon as Lancelot arrived into his body, another soul forced itself in and took total control.

"_Morgana?"_

_"Hush, I'm the one that brought you back. I can do with you what I like"_

She forced him to breathe.

* * *

He fought her at first. At first. Now he knew better.

Now he was the passenger with in his own body. A prisoner in his own skin. Forced to betray those he loved.

"_Buck up, Lance dear. It's not so bad."_

_"Shut up, Morgana."_

She could hear his thoughts.

He really hated her.

_ "O, now you've hurt my feelings little Knight"_

* * *

_"Really! MORGANA! Hey! This is __**not cool**__ Morgana! STOP!"_

Merlin's body made a thud as it hit the floor. Lancelot was disgusted with himself. Merlin was a friend and-

"_Really, Lance you should be glad I didn't make you kill him"_

He wasn't going to dignify that with a response.

* * *

"_Morgana, I'm begging you. Morgana... please. I can't do this"_

Gwen was just as beautiful as before. Her smile was just as radiant. And her kiss... It was forbidden to him. But Morgana didn't care. She didn't care that just couldn't kiss Gwen. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to betray his king. He didn't want to disappoint Merlin.

_"But you can't deny that you're enjoying yourself little knight. You love the way she smells, you love the sensation of her lips on yours, you love the feeling she gives you. Give into your desire Lancelot. That will make things easier on you"._

Her callous words only made him more determined. His body had betrayed Arthur, but he was determined not to betray him with his mind. He retreated into his memories. Memories of Arthur and Merlin. He could do this.

_"Your too hard on yourself little Knight"._

_"I do not want your pity, traitoress!"_

* * *

_"I'm going to make you kill yourself little Knight"_

_"Why?"_

_"You think you have a choice!?"_

He knew he didn't have a choice. He wanted closure he wanted to know why she brought him back to life, only to force him to commit suicide. She would never tell him. She was a megalomaniac of the worst sort.

Agravaine came into the cell were they were keeping him. He held a letter in his hand. "This is from our Lady Morgana. She has one last wish for you".

"Whatever my Lady desires. I'm hers to command." He heard his body say.

_"Morgana why do you bother with this charade. You can communicate with me with your mind. Why make Agravaine deliver letters for you?"_

_"I like to hear you call me 'my Lady'. It's quite... nice. Besides little knight, sending Agravaine on errands keeps him from getting a big head"_

Lancelot scoffed. _"Yes, if his ego got any bigger the two of you wouldn't be able to fit in the same room"_

He read the note.

**Little Knight,**

**I Hope you enjoyed our time together, I know I did. Sadly, I cannot maintain this spell forever, and you are far too loyal to Arthur to be of any further use to me. With every breath you take, you grow closer to betraying my secret to Arthur. You know what to do.**

**Morgana**

He felt the urge, now that she'd give him the order, to do himself in. The only problem was he had no idea how. He had no dagger, no poison, his hands were tied, literally. He supposed he could bang his head against the wall, but the guards would probably stop him before he died.

_"Oh, Little Knight, you disappoint me. I thought you were more intelligent than that. I even left you a hint"._

**'With every breath you take'**. Ah, she wanted him to hold his breath. The second he understood her order he ceased to breath. His lungs burned, and he tried to inhale.

_"Oh no you don't Little Knight"_

Lancelot felt the life drain out of him. He went willingly to the arms of darkness.

* * *

Lancelot gasped as his soul was torn from the comfort of the spirit world. The pain was fantastically sharp as he was pulled back into his body. His skin burned, his muscles were weak, and he almost couldn't remember how to breathe. It all seemed a bit too familiar.

He was proud when his lungs remembered how to draw in air. In, out, in, out. Little miracles that everyone took for granted.

He opened his eyes and saw an achingly familiar face.

"Merlin, thank you" he said and he meant it.

The darkness took him again.

* * *

Lancelot awoke to find himself lying in a beautifully comfortably bed. There was one problem though.

"My head. It feels like a horse sat on my head".

"Merlin said it would," said a deep voice that certainly didn't belong to anyone he knew. "Of course being resurrected ought to have a downside or else very one would be doing it".

Lancelot sat up straight. "Who are you?"

"My name is Athos of the King's Musketeers, and you are Lancelot, a former Knight of Camelot".

"I am still a Knight of Camelot. I will be a Knight of Camelot as long as I draw breath," Lancelot protested.

"I would agree with you Monsieur, if it was not for the small fact that Camelot no longer exists" Said the voice, which belonged to a leather clad man with dark hair.

That caught Lancelot off guard. "What?"

"I believe it would perhaps be easier if your friend Merlin explained it to you," The man called Athos pulled a letter out of his Jacket and handed it to Lancelot.

Lancelot eyed him suspiciously. "How do I know that you didn't forge this?"

Athos gave him a look. "Because it's in English, a language that I am not fluent in."

Lancelot nodded. He had been surprised when Athos had adressed him in French. Lancelot's mother had been French, but she was the only other person he'd ever known to speech the language. Even his father hadn't bothered to learn. He'd begun to teach Merlin a few words here and there before he'd died the first time, but the warlock was nowhere close to being able to hold even a simple conversation.

"Luckily, I was able to communicate on some level with Merlin, unfortunately our conversation was quite... limited. There are still things I don't understand about our... situation," Athos said. He grabbed the nearest bottle of alcohol and handed it to Lancelot. "You'll need this, I suspect."

Lancelot was more confused than he had been at the beginning of a conversation. He opened the letter.

**Hello mate, it's me Merlin.**

**Erm... Well I guess those French lessons really did come in handy. I'm sorry to leave you, but I couldn't stay long, and Arthur needs me. Besides this Athos guy seems capable, if a bit... broody. I bet you're wondering what's going on. I am myself, honestly.**

**First things first. I don't know if you remember or not, but Morgana made you kill yourself so you couldn't tell Arthur that you and Gwen were possessed/under a spell. Arthur was impressed by that. He thought you killed yourself to 'preserve your honor'. He asked that you be given a proper send off, so I took your body to the lake of Avalon planning to give you a warrior's funeral. To my surprise your soul was still in your body. I realized that you were only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. I quickly brought you back.**

**You were awake for all of five seconds. After you passed out I called on the lady of the lake, who told me that you couldn't remain in Camelot or even in this age or you would fade away. She showed me a spell that would take you to a safe place and time. A time without magic.**

**To my amazement we landed over a thousand years in the future. Can you believe it? We appeared in Athos's chambers and gave him quite a shock. There was a bit of a language barrier, but once I got through to him that I was Merlin 'The Enchanter', he seemed to understand. He told me that he was a descendant of mine, and they have stories about me appearing to one of them. The funny thing was the thing that shocked me the most was the fact that someday, I'll be a father. I tried to tell him what was going on with you but I don't know how much he understood.**

**Lancelot, it is most likely that we will never see each other again. I hope that someday I will be able to tell Arthur and the others what Morgana did to you. Until then, know that I will remember as an honorable man, a loyal knight, and a true friend.**

**Thank you for everything,**

**Merlin**

Athos could never have forged this. Only Merlin could write something so strange. He took a swig of the whiskey, Athos was right. Lancelot was going to need it.

* * *

A/n: Inspired by Mr. Santiago Cabrera. Was originally going to be a one shot but Morgana loves wumping the Knights, and Athos is so fun to write. I'm thinking about writing the scene between Merlin and Athos and including it in the next chapter as an omake so I can put my two years of high school French to use. Tell me what you think about that, and if you have any thoughts about what you would like to see in coming chapters, review.

Shameless self promotion: If you're a Harry Potter fan check out my fic, The Sad Reality of Time and Magic.

When Harry martyrs himself at the battle of Hogwarts, he is glad to be dead. Dumbledore has a problem with this so he sends Harry on an adventure along with seventeen year old versions of James Potter I and James Potter II. With random interludes from Sirius Black, Hermione Granger, and Scorpius Malfoy and a cunning scheme from Dumbledore, will Harry regain the will to live?


	2. Becoming New

A/N: Do I own Merlin? No. Do I own The Musketeers? No. Do I want to? Maybe.

* * *

In the next few hours Athos taught Lancelot all about the political situations of France in the seventeenth century. He stop to explain the current borders when he realized that for Lancelot, 'France' was called Frankland and was a collection of four different states ruled by the sons of Chlothar. Soon however, Athos had to leave, but not with out giving Lancelot several books to read.

He looked them over, trying to decide which one to read first. There were three books. _Armaments and Military_ _Tactics, _which was exactly what it sounded like, contained descriptions of 'Pistols' and 'Muskets', which, from what Lancelot could tell, shot a round lead ball out of a barrel. He was intrigued by the idea of such a thing and vowed to learn more about the subject._  
_

The next book was heavy and highly esoteric tome containing scientific and medical advancements. Lancelot thumb through it, reading the whole thing would have taken weeks. In it he found a detailed map of the human body, and descriptions of certain maladies and their cures. It made him think of Merlin.

Lancelot was saddened to think that he would never see the scrawny boy again. He supposed that everyone he'd ever known was dead. It was heart-wrenching and confusing, and Lancelot felt entirely out of place. He wondered what had become of his friends.

The next book, Lancelot was surprised to find, might answer his question. It was a leather bound and a flowing gold script on the cover read _Le Morte d'Arthur. _Lancelot had wondered, but to be presented with this, The Death of Arthur, was enough to take the breath out of him. He cracked it open, and tucked in the first few pages was a note.

LANCELOT-

** I am sure that you have wondered about the fate of your Camelot, and while I am sure that this book is in most ways inaccurate, there may be some truth buried amongest the myth.**

**ATHOS**

Lancelot smiled. The book was well worn and on the inside of the cover, in a child's hand, was the name _Olivier_ _Athos__._ It was hard to imagine was a young Athos, but somehow holding a book he must have treasured as a child made it easier.

He began reading. "_It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England..."_

* * *

He was still immersed in the tale when Athos came back.

"I knew you would enjoy that," Athos said in what Lancelot had come to recognize as the musketeer's usual drawl.

Lancelot nodded. "I really don't understand how they got this-" he gestured to the book in his lap, "from what actually happened."

"Is it that dissimilar?" Athos said with a slight raise of his eyebrow.

"Well..." Lancelot paused to consolidate his thoughts. "I wasn't Arthur's most trusted knight, that was probably Leon, and he's not even mentioned. And as you saw Merlin, is actually quite youthful, and not at all... like in this," he took a breath. "Also the... thing, with me and Gwen is..._Vastly_ exaggerated".

"But not entirely untrue?"

Lancelot glared. He had feelings for Gwen, but she was _Arthur's! _Nothing would have happened if it hadn't been for Morgana. "Not entirely untrue, but as I said **_Vastly_**exaggerated."

There was a silence that followed; it wasn't entirely uncomfortable, just strange. Athos found himself in the presence of story from his childhood come to life, Lancelot was preoccupied with the implications of being a living fairy tale knight. As confusing as it must of been for Athos, Lancelot was fairly sure that it was worse for him. His entire world had changed, and how does one cope with that?

"What am I going to do?" Lancelot asked. He really had no idea.

Athos, lost in his own thoughts, was pulled out of his stupor. "What?"

"Well, I can't stay in your bedroom forever," Lancelot said.

"No, that's hardly an option," Athos said. He rarely let any one into his personal chambers, and it showed. There were wine bottles strewn across almost every surface and there were several stains in the floor from spills he hadn't bothered to clean up. "Would you consider becoming a musketeer?"

"What?"

"You've already made a career out of protecting King Arthur, why not do the same for Louis?" Athos said drolly.

Lancelot nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

"Stand up," Athos ordered.

Lancelot stood.

"Now turn to face me". Athos looked him up and down. "When need to make you into a modern French man before I can introduce you Treville, understand that you won't become a musketeer right away, you need a commission from the king for that, but i'm sure that, with your skill set it shouldn't be to long in coming. Do you have any preferences?"

"On what?" asked Lancelot

"Your new Identity," Athos said. Upon seeing Lancelot's confusion he added, "You can't go around claiming to **_the_** 'Lancelot'. You would be locked up".

"Ah..." Lancelot could see how that might be a problem. "I trust your judgement, Athos".

Athos thought it funny that this man that he had only just met trusted 'his judgement' more than the musketeer did himself. He looked the knight up and down. He had dark hair, and dark eyes. There was the beginning of a beard on his face, and he was dressed all in black, in the style of the early middle ages. Athos mentally kicked himself. How could he have forgotten to get clothes of a more recent fashion for Lancelot? No matter. He would find a way to get the knight something to wear. He was almost certain that there was a cloth merchant located near the garrison. Bonacieux or something...

Athos tilted his head and began rewriting Lancelot's life. "You look like you could be from Guyenne. There is a village there called Aramis. Many people use the place they or their fathers were born as a name. You will need a christian name as well, I think René would be appropriate since it means 'reborn'. Let's see you still need a family history..." Athos paused to think.

"I was a merchants son who was attacked by a robber in the night. I was helpless to defend myself, and from that day on I vowed to learn to protect myself and others," the newly christened Aramis said. "Believe it or not, this isn't the first time I've had to fabricate history for my self," he said thinking back to Merlin's well meaning attempt to make him a noble.

Athos nodded. He was willing to wager that there was a story behind that last comment.

* * *

A/N: If you are reading any of my other fics you already know that marching season has begun and I have significantly less time to write. That being said I will continue to write this story, just at a slower pace than I would like.

Chlothar was the 'King' of what would some day be France until his death in 561. His kingdom was divided between his for sons, Charibert, Guntram, Sigebert, and Chilperic.

The line of text typed _liked__ this_ was taken from Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. It was published in 1485, but in my head, baby Athos managed to get his hands on a copy because of his interest in his fabled distant ancestor, the Great Enchanter, Merlin.   


Guyenne is a region of France (These days it's called Aquitaine). In Aquitaine/Guyenne there is a town called Aramits. There was a man from Aramits called Henri d'Aramitz, who was in fact the inspiration for our Aramis.

(Yes his first name is René. No it's not a girl name. Renée is a girls name; René is a boy's name. Boom! French grammar!)

So anyway thanks for reading feel free to comment or follow or favorite. Seriously, I want you to. I would love you to. So pretty please?


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